


A Favour for a Friend

by baroque_mongoose



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 13:43:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2549648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baroque_mongoose/pseuds/baroque_mongoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Violetta has been so kind and helpful to Mr Wooster that he wants to do a favour for her in return.  Once he discovers what she wants, he goes to some effort to ensure that she gets it... but, once she has it, is she absolutely sure it is what she really wants?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Favour for a Friend

“Violetta,” I said, “you are very good to me. Not only that, but you're patient. I realise I can't always be the easiest person to have around.”

She looked genuinely surprised. “I don't find you difficult, Wooster. I like you a lot. You're good company. Intelligent, thoughtful, and an excellent raconteur.”

“But I worry too much,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, now we have it. Meta-worry. If you're going to start worrying about the fact that you're worrying, I am so going to punch you till you stop.” She grinned. “I mean, not really _punch_ punch. Just hard enough to give you something else to think about.”

I had to smile. “All right. But, seriously, I want to ask if there's anything I can do for you. You've done a lot for me, after all, and you continue to do so. Most of all, you're the best listener I know.”

“It's nothing, really,” she insisted. “I enjoy listening to you. You take my mind off all the things I might otherwise be worrying about. How do you think I understand you so well? I'm not exactly Ms Icy Calm myself, now am I?”

“That's true, and encouraging,” I said. “I'm glad it's mutual help, rather than going all one way. Even so, I do think the balance of it goes rather more my way than yours, and so if there is anything within my power that I can do for you, I should very much like to do it.”

She sighed. “It's really sweet of you to offer, but I'm not sure there is. The one thing I really want, you can't get for me.”

I recalled Herr von Zinzer, trapped in Mechanicsburg. “If you mean what I think you mean, I suppose indirectly I'm already helping with that,” I replied. “Lady Heterodyne is the only one who can free Mechanicsburg, and that... well...”

“Could take a long time. Yeah,” she said, sadly. “And, yes, you are. Helping, I mean. And I appreciate it. I don't need you to do anything else for me.”

“Isn't there anything else you'd like?” I persisted. “Something that might make the wait a little easier? You're talking to one of the best-connected people in the whole of Europa. I can... get things. Send messages. That sort of thing.”

She looked at me thoughtfully. There was something in her eyes that I had not seen before, but I was at a loss to read it, for once.

“Well... there is something, I suppose,” she admitted, “but it's such a silly, trivial little thing that I'm embarrassed to ask. I mean, would you really set your whole complicated spy network rolling just to bring me a little trifle?”

I laughed. “It wouldn't involve the whole network, Violetta. Just a word or two in the right place. On what little trifle does your heart happen to be set?”

She blushed. “I... I couldn't tell you. I'm sorry I even mentioned it. You are going to think I'm so shallow.”

“That is the last thing I would ever think you,” I protested, warmly. “I don't make friends with shallow people. I never have.”

“Well.” She looked down. “You know when the train was attacked and we lost all our luggage?”

“Most certainly I do,” I replied, with feeling. I had lost all my clean cuffs and collars, and had been having to exercise considerable ingenuity keeping the set I was wearing clean and starched until I was able to get some new ones.

“Well, the clothes and stuff didn't matter, because things wash, but I lost my jewellery box too,” she explained. “And, again, that's mostly not the end of the world, because on the whole I don't wear jewellery unless it's... shall we say... got some other use, if you follow me.”

I nodded. I had already seen some of Violetta's ingenious jewellery in action; woe betide anyone who met it in a fight. “But there is one piece you miss?” I asked.

She blushed. “Yeah. It's a silver locket. Not even a very expensive piece, but I was... I was going to put a picture in it, when I could get one. I wish I'd been wearing it, but of course I knew I was going to need all the serious stuff on the train.”

“And so you would like a new locket?” I asked. “Why should I think that's shallow?”

“Well. Maybe shallow's the wrong word.” She was still not looking at me. “Just a bit... I don't know... well, seriously, it's not like I'm some schoolgirl.”

“I see nothing juvenile about wearing a locket with someone's picture in it,” I said. “If I were in love, I should certainly wear a picture somewhere about my person, and a locket is as good a place to put one as anywhere.”

“Yeah, but I don't even know how he feels about me!” she burst out. “I mean... I don't know if he even _notices_ me.”

“Wear it anyway,” I said. “And then, when you help to rescue him, if he then starts to notice you, I shall be a witness to how long you've been wearing his picture.”

“Oh, Wooster,” she said. “You gallant prince.”

“Not at all. It's simply what any decent man would do,” I said, a little embarrassed. “But first, we must get you the locket. That should be simple. About what size?”

“About like this.” She curled her thumb and forefinger into an oval.

“Ah, so about an inch across, and obviously rather taller than that,” I said.

She shrugged. “Couldn't tell you about inches. You do have some funny measurements in England.”

“They work for us,” I smiled. “All right. A silver locket, oval, about an inch across. On a chain, naturally. Any particular kind of chain?”

“Just a chain. I can't remember exactly what it was like. You really needn't go to so much trouble. Anything you can get will be more than appreciated.”

I shrugged. “Well, it does look as though it will be quite a while before we reach Paris, and although you could easily get one there, I have decided that you are not going to wait as long as that. Leave it with me. I shall make sure it's in your hands as soon as I possibly can.”

And I shall get you the picture to go in it, I added silently, if I can find any way at all to do so. The locket is easy. I don't even have to think to get hold of the locket; one brief note sent in the right direction will do that. But a picture of Herr von Zinzer? That's a challenge. And challenges are something I like.

I sent the note forthwith, and then set myself to dealing with the other matter. At the first opportunity I got, I asked for a private word with Lady Heterodyne. I knew I would not be breaching any confidence by doing so, since Lady Heterodyne already knew all about the state of Violetta's affections.

“Violetta has been very kind to me, as I'm sure you've noticed,” I explained. “I want to do something for her in return, and it appears that she lost a locket on the train. It... had no picture in it when she lost it, but she had been wanting one. So I am replacing the locket for her, but I would like to go beyond that, if possible, and provide her with a picture to go in it. Do you know where I might be able to get a picture of Herr von Zinzer?”

Lady Heterodyne looked surprised for a moment. “Herr von Zinzer?”

“Of course. She is in love with him, is she not?”

“Oh! Well...” Lady Heterodyne gave me an odd look. “Well, yes, she was last time I spoke to her about it, certainly.”

“I'm not aware that anything has changed in that respect,” I said.

“I suppose if you're not, it hasn't, then,” she replied.

The penny dropped. “Ah. You thought...?”

“Well, I must admit, yes, I did think,” she said. “You two have got very close.”

“Indeed we have,” I said. “But there is close, and there is close.”

“True enough,” replied Lady Heterodyne. “Although, between you and me, I think she'd be better off with you. She hardly knows von Zinzer. You, on the other hand... you know each other very well, and you click.”

“I wouldn't dream of trying to encroach on the affections of a young lady who had already declared them elsewhere,” I said, rather formally.

“Ever the proper Englishman,” said Lady Heterodyne, with an amused smile. “Come on, now. I'm curious. If she hadn't, would you?”

“I don't actually know the answer to that one,” I replied. It was true. I think.

“Well. A portrait of von Zinzer? Difficult, but... h'mm. Let me think.”

“Didn't you meet him in Beetleburg?” I asked.

“Yes, but that's not where he was from,” replied Lady Heterodyne. “He was in the army. He and another soldier mugged me in an alley.”

“Whose army?” I asked. “If I can get that information, they'll still have him on their records. There should be a picture.”

“I'm... I'm not sure,” she admitted. “Not the Baron's. That's all I really know.”

“That does leave rather a lot of other possibilities, Lady Heterodyne,” I pointed out. “Still, it is a start. You don't happen to know anything about the other soldier, I suppose?”

“Yes, I do, but I'm afraid it won't help,” she replied. “Omar von Zinzer. He was his brother. He... died. I'm not sure what happened, but it was something to do with my locket. They stole it, you see, and... and that was when I broke through.”

“Ah!” I exclaimed. “Now I'm on to something. When you broke through, the first thing that happened was that the Baron found you, even though he didn't realise at first that you were the spark rather than von Zinzer. So the Baron was in Beetleburg, and these two men were not part of his army. Do you recall seeing anyone else in the same uniform as they were?”

“Come to think of it, I don't,” Lady Heterodyne admitted.

“I thought not,” I said triumphantly. “If there had been another army in Beetleburg at the time, Baron Wulfenbach would no doubt have had something to say about the matter. Therefore, there was no army. Von Zinzer and his brother were either heading back home on leave, or deserting. I'm inclined to go with the latter theory.”

She nodded. “Yeah. You've got a point. He never did tell me what he was doing in Beetleburg, and they did mug me.”

“Good. Looking for deserters will narrow things down considerably.” I smiled. “Thank you, Lady Heterodyne. You've given me enough to go on.”

She grinned back mischievously. “You don't need a lot, do you?”

“I do have my uses,” I replied.

“Yeah, you do,” she said. “And once I get Mechanicsburg sorted out, if I can ever manage to tempt you out of Albia's service, I'd like to hire you as my private detective. You'd excel at it.”

I bowed slightly. “I am flattered, but nothing will tempt me out of Albia's service.” I sighed. “Lady Heterodyne, I want to go home. It's been too long.”

“I know, Mr Wooster. I suppose you'll leave us once we get to England?”

“I have no say in that matter,” I replied. “But... I hope I shall be allowed, at the very least, a little holiday. I have a lot of family I should like to see. My niece Harriet is eleven now, and yet again I have had to miss her birthday because I am out of the country. In fact, I spent her birthday on the Wyrm of Limerick threatening various assassins and suspected assassins with a gun.”

“You deserve a long holiday,” she said. “And I reckon you need one. I hope you get to spend your niece's twelfth birthday with her.”

I smiled back. “Thank you. So do I. She is extremely intelligent. I have been wanting to buy her a microscope, but I have resisted so far because I should not wish to trust it to the postal service.”

“Ooh! Not a spark, by any chance?”

The phrase which immediately sprang to mind was “I most sincerely hope not,” but I am not lacking in tact. “I believe not,” I replied.

I went back to my room and wrote some more letters, which went off by the following morning's post. A few days later, the locket duly arrived, but I said nothing of it to Violetta until I heard back from my other contacts. Meanwhile, I kept it hidden in an interior waistcoat pocket, not wishing to spoil the surprise I had planned.

The first reply drew a blank, and so did the second; but the third was much more promising. There were only so many regiments that could possibly have been in the general area at the time, and this letter gave me confirmation that one of my guesses had been correct. I had identified the regiment, though my contact had nothing to do with its administration and had no idea whether or not records of deserters would still be kept. That was no problem. I was one step closer to my goal. I wrote another letter; this time, since I did not know the recipient, I had to apply a little subterfuge. I identified myself as a British agent, and claimed that Moloch von Zinzer was wanted – which was, of course, perfectly true, but not by me. I said that I had heard that there was a man by the name of von Zinzer currently trapped inside Mechanicsburg, so I currently had no way of finding out whether or not he was the von Zinzer I needed to speak to; but I had caught a glimpse of him before he was trapped, and if a photograph could be supplied, it would be of inestimable help to me in identifying my quarry.

They quickly supplied the photograph. It was too big for the locket, which was rather a pity, but at least Violetta could get it copied and reduced as soon as we reached Paris.

I wrote back with my heartfelt thanks, and then lost no time in finding Violetta. “Your locket,” I said, producing it from its pocket.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Thank you. You must have gone to more trouble than you said, though.”

“Oh, not for the locket,” I assured her. “That was simple. But I did also manage to find you this.” So saying, I reached into the other side of my waistcoat and took out the photograph.

Her eyes widened. “Oh... oh, Wooster. How in the world did you get that?”

“I have my methods,” I replied, feeling, I will admit, a little smug. “I'm sorry it's too big for the locket, but, well, you can have it copied in Paris. And in the meantime, I'm sure it will look good in a frame.”

“You are awesome,” she said, simply. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Well,” I said. “As I said previously, you have been very kind to me. It seemed only reasonable.”

“But you must have gone to a lot of trouble...”

“Oh, not trouble,” I assured her. “Trouble is when you are out of your depth. This was a challenge. And I enjoy one of those.”

She looked at the photograph, then at me, then back at the photograph again, then back at me.

“I don't know what to say,” she concluded.

“You've said it,” I assured her. “You've already thanked me. And I saw how glad you were.”

“Yeah... I'm definitely glad,” she said. “That's one thing I'm absolutely certain about.”

“Are you uncertain about something else?” I asked.

“Oh... yeah, actually. Are you sure I can get the photograph reduced? Because if I can't, no big deal – I'll just do a drawing the right size from the photograph.”

“Certainly,” I replied. “I can even show you where, once we reach Paris. Master Gil used to... er...”

She grinned. “Have pictures of himself put in lockets, by any chance?”

“Er... yes, in fact.”

“Regularly?”

“I'm afraid so.”

She grinned even more broadly. “I can't think what they all saw in him,” she said. “And I really hope Agatha didn't overhear that.”

“I never enquired,” I replied, with my best poker face.

“Didn't they ever chase you instead?” she asked curiously.

“Oh, sometimes. But I redirected them. I was, after all, if you remember, still very much in love with Princess Orlov.”

“But... it's not as if she... I mean...” Violetta ground to a flustered halt. “Oh, forget that. I'm sorry. I understand. Anyway. The photograph can be made small enough to go in the locket. That's all I need to know. And I shouldn't ask so many personal questions. And thank you so much again.”

“I don't mind you asking me questions,” I said.

“Yeah. Well. Some of them I think I shouldn't really be asking, even if you don't mind,” she replied.

“Violetta,” I said. “There's nothing wrong, is there?”

She was silent.

“There is something wrong,” I said. “Can I do anything to help?”

“No, you've already gone above and beyond the call of duty,” she said, with a little smile. “I have to sort this one out myself.”

“Oh,” I said, as realisation hit me. “The photograph.”

She made no reply.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I've given you a two-edged sword there, haven't I? I didn't think... that is, you said you wanted a picture, and so I thought, I will get you a picture, and it didn't occur to me that it might just make you miss him even worse.”

“Yeah,” she said, still looking away. “That's why it's my problem. But don't think you've given me a two-edged sword, Wooster. Once I've got my head together, I'll be fine, I promise you. I can't begin to say how much I appreciate what you did for me there.” She gave me a quick glance. “And, seriously, if I tell you I want a photograph, I don't expect you to do a psychological analysis and work out all the possible effects of that. If I say I want a photograph, just assume I mean I want a photograph, OK?”

“Well,” I said, “now you have one.”

“Yeah.” She paused. “Where _did_ you get it?”

“I'm a spy,” I replied. “Allow me my little secret this time, if you don't mind.” I was hardly going to bring up the matter of his desertion from his regiment.

“All right, Mr Mystery Man.” She gave me a little smile. “Anyway. I'm going to go and put it away in my room now.”

“You're not going to show Lady Heterodyne?” I asked.

“Maybe later,” she replied.

It was at exactly that moment that Zeetha burst in on us. She has a habit of not knocking at doors. “Oh, there you two are!” she exclaimed. “I wondered where you'd got to... hey, is that von Zinzer?”

“Yeah,” said Violetta. “Wooster got hold of it for me. Won't say how or where, but I think he went to quite a lot of effort.”

Zeetha stared at me. “You did?”

“I did,” I confirmed.

“Sweet lightning,” said Zeetha, looking at me with sudden respect.

“Well, is it so surprising?” I asked. “You know how kind to me Violetta has been. I wanted to do her a little favour in return.”

Zeetha looked as though she was trying to find words, and none of those which came to mind were at all suited to the occasion. “Uh,” she managed.

“Really, Zeetha,” I said. “Did you think so little of me?”

“What on earth do you mean?” she asked. “I know I tease you, but you know very well that doesn't mean I think badly of you.”

“Well, obviously I wanted to do something for Violetta,” I said, starting to get a little annoyed.

“Yeah, but... there's doing something for Violetta and there's... this,” said Zeetha. “You talk as though it was nothing.”

“I do have contacts,” I reminded her.

She gave me an exasperated look. Then she turned to Violetta. “Hey. I want to talk to you. Now.”

“OK,” said Violetta. “Excuse us, Wooster.”

I shrugged as they left. I couldn't help feeling that I might be missing a piece of information somewhere, but that feeling, after all, is nothing new to me. I waited a discreet interval, then went off to go and look for the Lady Heterodyne, who I thought would be interested to know that I had found the picture from the information she had been able to give me.

On the way, I happened to walk past Zeetha's room. I had not intended to overhear anything, but she had raised her voice more than usual.

“Violetta,” she was saying. “I swear, you need to marry that man.”

Well, we all knew that, assuming that he will have her. But since at the moment he is still trapped in Mechanicsburg, I had better continue to put my shoulder to the wheel.


End file.
